Medicins Sans Frontiers has commenced on a project aiming at equipping female sex workers with Covid-19 messages and protective equipment.
According to MSF Social Worker Gloria Mwambazi, female sex workers are a vulnerable to the virus as they meet different clients in transit, hence a need to put them onboard in Covid19 response.
“This vulnerable group of people is a key stakeholder in the fight against Covid19. They meet a lot of people in the course of their work others are in transit; hence, being a possible vehicle for Covid19 transmission,” said Mwambazi.
Mwambazi noted that literacy levels of most female sex workers is very low and with that, they lack good understanding of some messages such as of sanitation and hygiene and apart from this, they live in places where access to water is a challenge.
MSF is giving female sex workers and bar and rest house owners lessons on how to reduce infection in relation to Covid19 through health promotion activities and provision of hand washing facilities in all areas where female sex workers are found around Zalewa (Neno).
As of now, MSF has reached over one thousand female sex workers with messages and protective wear such as face masks and other remedies for sanitation.